There’s a lot of growing competition online when it comes to attorney SEO (configuring both the on- and off-site elements for your website so it ranks well with search engines like Google). This is especially true when dealing with Google who has 60 – 80% market dominance today. While there are many tactics you can use, it’s important to be careful when representing your firm online. You must tailor your law firm SEO to the legal industry without violating ethics and advertising guidelines that are established by state bar associations. Here are some tips to help you do so.
Conducting Keyword Research and Discovery
Before you start optimizing your website you must conduct keyword research. Make sure you focus on keywords that not only indicate that your visitor is ready to become a client, but also have a decent search volume. Your job here is to discover what people are typing into search engines and what they’re looking for. Some tips to help you do this include:
- Look for terms that are related to your area of practice
- Consider different variations of the same term
- Choose phrases that are searched for a lot but don’t get a lot of competition
- See what phrases your competition is using then try to improve on it
Creating Appropriate Calls to Action
Your call to action should motivate your visitors to act. For attorney SEO this should be placed above your webpage’s fold (the point at which people must start scrolling for more information). Make sure you also prominently list your phone number on every webpage. It’s beneficial to have more than one way to contact your firm.
Attorney Schema
Schema is the HTML code that you’ll apply to your content to make sure the search engines understand it. There’s specific schema used in law firm SEO. You’ll want to apply it to:
- Contact information
- Names and biographies
- Reviews
Creating Legal Content Umbrellas
Google is very methodical and systematic in how it crawls and indexes content. For this reason, it’s best to have a page for each practice area. Of course, this also benefits your visitors. When creating this organization make sure:
- Your website concentrates on a single, overarching theme (e.g. personal injury law)
- Drill your way down to the central theme’s subtopics (e.g. car accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents)
- Each webpage should be about a single topic
Having Website Content Written by Lawyers
When working with attorney SEO your content must be written by a legal professional (e.g. lawyer, paralegal, Juris Doctor). You also need to know your state’s law about publishing legal advice on the Internet.
Working with Local Search
Local law firm SEO is important because you’re competing with other lawyers for the same demographics. To help you remain visible here, you should:
- Add your website to local directories – both legal and traditional ones
- Claim your profile on AVVO.com, Google My Business, Bing and fill them out completely
- Create a location-specific page that uses location-based terminology
Building Links
In 2016 Google said that links heavily influence websites’ ranking in the SERPs. However, you want to make sure you’re gathering links from sources that aren’t only relevant, but also high-quality.
Conclusion
Having good attorney SEO is no longer optional. Consumers go online in search of legal information and services making it vital for you to have a comprehensive search marketing plan. I SEO U has lots of experience when it comes to law firm SEO. They haven’t had any ethics violations with the customers they’ve worked with and yet have still managed to land their clients on top of the SERPs. As a busy attorney, you already have plenty to do, so why not let I SEO U manage your SEO for you? Get in touch with them today!